She spent a decade as an aide to former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and was deputy campaign manager of GOP Gov. Butch Otter’s 2010 successful re-election campaign. In May, she began a new job as senior immigration administrator in the Energy and Construction Division at URS Corp.

Rather than flowers, the family suggests donations to the Brenda Maynard Walters Memorial Fund for the Giraffes at Zoo Boise. To donate call Zoo Boise at 608-7760 or visit the website to designate a donation in her name. Walters and her husband, Nathan, had no children, but raised Lucy, their beloved corgi.

Written thoughts about Walters may be sent to shelby.kerns@gmail.com for a memorial tribute that will be compiled for the family. Pictures of Walters also are sought for Monday’s memorial and may be sent to Kendra@amgidaho.com. The family offers its gratitude for the generous outpouring of love and support.

Dan Popkey came to Idaho in 1984 to work as a police reporter. Since 1987, he has covered politics and has reported on 25 sessions of the Legislature.
Dan has a bachelor's in political science from Santa Clara University and a master's in journalism from Columbia University. He was a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association and a Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. A former page in the U.S. House of Representatives, he graduated Capitol Page High School in 1976.
In 2007, he led the Statesman’s coverage of the Sen. Larry Craig sex scandal, which was one of three Pulitzer Prize finalists in breaking news. In 2003, he won the Ted M. Natt First Amendment award from the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association for coverage of University Place, the University of Idaho’s troubled real estate development in Boise. Dan helped start the community reading project "Big Read." He has two children in college and lives on the Boise Bench with an old gray cat.